Why Is Lyme Disease Not Covered By Insurance?

In the summer of 2022, as the country recovers from the coronavirus pandemic that swept across the globe,  another pandemic is lurking in their backyard, and never left the average person spends the most time, their home. . Tick season is here and thousands of families will begin to experience the impacts of forgotten tick bites received during the spring and upcoming summer months only to begin a journey of education and acceptance.

Unaware of the potential complications and financial resources required, thousands of families will begin to visit dozens of doctors that will span over the course of years and potentially decades to pursue “alternative treatment” that is often stigmatized by the medical community and not covered by insurance companies.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Lyme Disease is the fastest growing vector-borne, infectious disease in the United States, overtaking Zika Virus and West Nile Virus, with the number of cases reportedly increasing annually nearly 25-fold since reporting began in 1982.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that there are currently 300,000 new cases of Lyme Disease each year, but they state there are no accurate tests to quantify the number of new cases, which could well be in the millions.

A tick bite and bull’s eye rash are the two most common physical markers for an infection of the spirochete (spiral-shaped) bacteria known as bacterium borrelia burgdorferi, which is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected black-legged (deer) ticks.

However, recent polling evaluating the effectiveness of Lyme Disease diagnoses found that 50% of “diagnosed” Lyme Disease patients did not recall a tick bite, and that less than 50% recalled receiving the characteristic “bull’s eye” rash.

The main reason Lyme Disease is difficult to detect is that the symptoms can be obscure. Due to the obscure symptoms associated with Lyme, the disease is often referred to as the Great Imitator as it commonly imitates the symptoms of other illnesses.

 Lyme Disease is often misdiagnosed as numerous conditions and diseases, including but not limited to Autism, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s, Crohn’s Disease, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Lupus, Parkinson’s, Prostatitis, or Multiple Sclerosis, just name to a few.

In a Statement for the House Foreign Affairs Committee from 2012, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) stated the following: “IDSA recognizes that Lyme Disease can be painful and that the disease is not always properly identified or treated” and later goes to say “We sympathize with these patients’ suffering, but remain concerned that a diagnosis of so-called Chronic Lyme Disease, suggesting that active infection is ongoing, is not supported by scientific evidence and, more alarmingly, the treatment of long-term antibiotic therapy will do patients more harm than good.”

 The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) also goes on to state that a majority of Lyme Disease cases are “successfully treated with 10-28 days of antibiotics”, and that “long term antibiotics have not been found to effectively treat symptoms that persist after the initial infection is cleared.”

 Per the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) guidelines, a single dose of doxycycline is recommended after potential exposure to the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi microbes via a tick bite.

 On the other hand, if you were to speak with actual Lyme Disease patients or those in the trenches fighting this vector-borne epidemic, most familiar with the disease would say that depending on the duration and severity of the infection, antibiotics will help but most likely not knock the bacteria or debilitating symptoms into remission, and turn to alternative treatments such as hyperthermia for Lyme Disease treatment in Arizona.

The International Lyme And Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) is a medical society dedicated to the appropriate diagnosis and treatment of Lyme Disease and associated disease.

Contrary to the guidelines published by the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA), ILADS states that “there has never been a study demonstrating that 30 days of antibiotic treatment cures chronic Lyme Disease. However, there is much documentation demonstrating that short courses of antibiotic treatment fail to eradicate the Lyme spirochete.”

In the desire to receive answers and acquire an official diagnosis, the average Lyme Disease patient will see 5 or more doctors over the span of 2 years, spending significant amounts of money and potentially losing the ability to hold down a full-time job with health insurance benefits.

The current stance by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and private insurance companies is that “Chronic Lyme Disease” does not exist, and is associated with costly experimental and expensive treatments.

Stating that “Chronic Lyme Disease” is a diagnosis used by medical providers to describe patients with a variety of unexplained symptoms, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and insurance companies see any treatment from Lyme Literate Medical Doctors (LLMD) as practitioners of unproven treatments, particularly the use of long-term antibiotic therapy.

As insurance companies rely on policy and guidelines in making coverage decisions, insurance companies are not obligated to cover the treatment of Lyme Disease per the guidelines issued by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), which insurance companies rely on to systematically deny claims associated with the treatment of Lyme Disease.

Consequently, a majority of all “Lyme Literate” Medical Doctors (LLMD) are not in-network with any of the major insurance companies, and most treatment programs are IV therapy drips, resulting in patients being obligated to pay for all Lyme Disease Treatment upfront, requiring significant amounts of financial resources.

Unfortunately, if an individual gets seriously ill in the United States and does not have applicable insurance benefits, there is not much of a safety net, requiring most families to make difficult financial decisions in order to receive treatment historically not covered by health insurance.

Serving as patient advocacy services for patients, Medical Bill Gurus assists individuals of all backgrounds, diagnoses, and incomes in navigating the financial complications associated with the rising cost of healthcare and dwindling network of coverage provided by insurance companies.

Our goal at Medical Bill Gurus is to provide a risk-free option to recovering financial resources, providing free insurance policy evaluation and free medical bill evaluations.

If you have already received treatment or are considering treatment and would like to learn about the specifics of your insurance policy or have us look at your medical bills, feel free to SIGN UP for a FREE CASE EVALUATION.

  Sources:

1. Statement for the House Foreign Affairs Committee
   Africa, Global Health and Human Rights Subcommittee’s Hearing on
   Global Challenges in Diagnosing and Managing Lyme Disease — Closing Knowledge Gaps
   Submitted by the Infectious Diseases Society of America
   July 17, 2012
2. ILADS Lyme Disease Facts
3. Diagnostic challenges of early Lyme disease
4. Infectious Diseases Society of America Lyme